Goodyear wins Top Sportsman at Vegas

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (April 12, 2015) – Most drag racers don’t win an NHRA national event and those who do never forget their first national victory.

For that reason, Richard Okerman will never forget this year’s NHRA Las Vegas Nationals. The Torrance, Calif. resident bested a field of 32 cars to win in Top Sportsman in his 1989 Chevrolet Berretta. The semi-final round of Top Sportsman featured all Goodyear-shod cars.

Okerman’s rear tires were Goodyear’s D2052. The D2052 measures 33 inches tall and 16 inches across the tread face. It mounts on a 15-inch rim and the construction includes Goodyear’s D-6 tread compound.

“It’s kind of a Comp tire because it’s all the room I have, but it fits perfect,” Okerman said. “It’s consistent, so I never have issues.”

Okerman won the final round with a 177.46 mph sprint down the quarter mile.

The Top Sportsman cars race in the NHRA’s Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, where competition is open among tiremakers.

Goodyear employs about 67,000 people at manufacturing plants and facilities in 22 nations. Based in Akron, Ohio, Goodyear is among the largest tiremakers in the world and is the worldwide leader in race tire innovation.